Prague Metro
Article from Geomechanics and Tunnelling 02/2013
Authors: Ing. Otakar Hasík, Ing. Jiri Růzicka
The Prague Metro today forms a very reliable backbone of the Prague mass transit system. The network consisting of three radial lines (A, B and C) with interchanges in the city centre developed gradually. The paper is devoted to engineering solutions for tunnels and tunnel construction methods. The first section describes the origins of the system in the 1970s and its history through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The New Austrian Tunnelling Method arrived in the modern era. The first applications of the method were primarily associated with the construction of the fourth extension of Line B (Metro Line IV.B, followed by the 4th operating section of Line C (Line IV.C). The design work for this part of the metro network was probably the longest and most difficult and it resulted in extremely interesting technical solutions. The main part of the paper is dedicated to the current development of operating section V.A, which commenced in the autumn of 2009. The section is 6,134 m long and contains four stations, of which three are being built by mining methods.